Wolvercote watches wildlife

This thriving group, one of a number of wildlife groups for children in Oxfordshire, has a full calendar of monthly meetings, field visits and longer trips.

“We begin planning the programme well before the start of the year, and we often find that it is difficult to fit in everything that we would like to do,” said June Williams, a member of the organising team.

“We try to do a bird walk once a year, either in January to look at wintering birds, or one in May, our dawn chorus walk.

“These walks also mean that the children get outdoors to do some walking as well.” This year wintering birds were watched on a visit to Port Meadow, in Oxford.

Do the youngsters mind getting up as early as the dawn-rising birds? Apparently not, she and her colleagues find — and they can also enjoy the prospect of the mug of hot chocolate awaiting them at the end of the walk.

Wolvercote’s Wildlife Watch organisers are Mrs Williams, who brings her experience of involvement in leading Cub Scout groups, air cadets and mother and toddler groups, among others; Caroline McCrudden, who is a botanist; and Jo Maldem, who has the artistic and craft-making skills. “Between us, we complement one another very well,” said Mrs Williams.

They are building on the work of the founders of the group, back in 1993, four people whose young families had an interest in wildlife and the outdoors, and who suggested starting an activity group in which other local children could also be involved.

Jo Malden was one of the original four, together with John Futter, Tim Metcalfe and the late Steve Vermeulen. Mr Vermeulen was well-known for his valuable contributions to providing activities of interest for young people, including hockey coaching, and through his work with Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Mrs Williams at that time was busy with her commitments to other groups, but her two sons were among the first members.

Another aim of the new group was to offer an opportunity for children who lived in Wolvercote, but went to school elsewhere, to meet other youngsters in their own community.

“It does give them a means of meeting with other children in their home village,” said Mrs Williams.

The age-group catered for is seven to 13. Some come from outside the area, where families welcome the opportunities the group offers. The present membership includes youngsters from several other villages north of Oxford.

In several instances, Wildlife Watch has provided the inspiration for future career choices. Three or four of the earlier members have gone on to studies in the scientific and environmental fields.

The group is run with the support of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, which also supports a number of other groups based at primary schools.

Expeditions form an important part of the programme and have been made to many of the BBOWT reserves. A recent visit was to its college lake, near Tring, where conservation projects for the traditional flowers of the cornfields are undertaken; the children spent a day studying plant ecology and also visiting its wildlife garden.

They also make good use of the facilities at the environmental education centre at Sutton Courtenay, where Mrs Williams is one of the volunteers.

For her work with the Wildlife Watch Group, at the centre, and with other aspects of BBOWT’s work, she was presented with its Volunteer of the Year award in 2005.

During a recent school holiday the group took part in an event at Sutton Courtenay, for which they had to make a scarecrow, an activity which took place beforehand at one of their own meetings.

During their day there, they made models of various insects — grasshoppers, centipedes, ladybirds and also of glowworms and earthworms.

Sydlings Copse, a reserve on the outskirts of Oxford, is a favourite place for visits.

“There are a tremendous number of different habitats there, on one site,” said Mrs Williams. “There is woodland, lovely pasture and damp areas, it is a good place for doing lots of different activities.”

Easter brought a spring walk in woodland, at Wytham. At the Oxfordshire Goes Wild event at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the group provided an activity in which visitors could join, making beetles.

This was both fun and educational, as the children learned about the structure and shape of the bodies and heads of the beetles as they worked.”

Bernwood, a woodland area at Stanton St John, provided the setting for a fungus foray.

“You usually find something to see there, even in a bad year,” said Mrs Williams.

“These searches are also an activity which gets the children looking at what is around then on the ground.”

“We also aim to have day trips at least once a year.”

One recently was to the Hawk Conservancy, near Andover, which provided an excellent follow-up to a talk earlier in the year by a visitor from the Hawk and Owl Trust.

There have also been weekends away, for field work in Wales and Dorset.

One particularly enjoyable expedition was to Woodchester Mansion, a historic house in Gloucestershire.

Staying overnight at a youth hostel, the party were able to spend the daytime studying the wildlife in the grounds, and then in the evening have the experience of observing what was happening in the vast bat colony which has long been established in a building where the conditions in the roof and inside the walls provide an ideal habitat.

“An adventure of a lifetime” is how Mrs Williams describes the week that, a few years ago, was spent in the Outer Hebrides.

However, on that occasion she heard about the wildlife from the children rather than seeing it for herself, as she was busy with the cooking, catering for their hungry appetites.

Their enthusiastic descriptions were such that she and her husband decided to spend a holiday in the Outer Hebrides the following year, so that they could see for themselves the wildlife delights and the scenery.

Membership of Wolvercote Wildlife Watch Group is kept to fairly restricted numbers so that all the children can have an adult available to help with activities and to answer their questions, but it is always open to applications for memberships. Sometimes extra places are available for particular meetings or excursions.

Enquiries can be made to Mrs Williams by e-mail at junewilliams4@02.co.uk or on 01865 511770.